One North Front Street
Memphis, TN 38103-2189
Phone: 901.678.5403; Fax: 901.678.0741
E-mail: lawadmissions@memphis.edu; Website: www.memphis.edu/law
Memphis is one of the South's largest, most beautiful, and most diverse cities. Memphis has one of the lowest cost-of-living rates of any major US city, and its temperate climate provides ample opportunity for year-round activities. Memphis has a rich history and an unmatched musical heritage. The School of Law brings together unique individuals with a wide variety of cultural, geographical, employment, and academic backgrounds. Many of its students come to law school immediately after finishing their undergraduate education; however, a significant number have been in the workforce or have completed advanced degrees. The diversity within the student body enriches the classroom experience for all students and enhances the overall quality of the educational program.
In 2011, the School of Law was recognized as a "best value" because Memphis is among schools that can boast a high bar exam passage rate, a strong job placement rate for graduates, and an affordable tuition. The School of Law has been cited elsewhere for "quality of life," reflecting student responses to questions about building aesthetics, sense of community, location, classroom facilities, social life, and library staff. In January 2010, the School of Law began classes in the newly renovated US Custom House and Post Office located in the heart of legal, business, and cultural districts in downtown Memphis. This beautiful state-of-the-art building offers a magnificent view of the Mississippi River and is within blocks of numerous law offices and both state and federal courthouses.
The Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis was established in response to widespread interest in developing a full-time accredited law program to serve Memphis and West Tennessee. The Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law opened in 1962 and was accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA) in 1965. The law school was named in honor of Cecil C. Humphreys, then-president of Memphis State University and an educator of great distinction. Dr. Humphreys led the group that worked with the state legislature to found the law school. The law school is an active member of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS).
Since its inception, the School of Law has graduated over 5,000 students and continues its tradition of preparing competent and ethical attorneys. Our graduates can be found throughout the United States, employed in private practice, federal and state judiciaries, corporate boardrooms, government agencies, and public service organizations.
The University of Memphis serves as a regional center for education, service, and research; and it is linked historically, intellectually, and emotionally to Memphis. It is a learner-centered metropolitan research university that enrolls over 22,000 students and is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
The School of Law offers a full-time day program and a reduced-load day program. The challenging curriculum prepares our students for the practice of law. The curriculum reflects a commitment to traditional legal education, and academic emphasis is placed on fundamental lawyering skills and areas of knowledge.
In-house clinics in Child and Family Litigation, Civil Litigation, and Elder Law offer upper-level students training through the vehicle of faculty-supervised, live-client representations. Specially admitted to practice by the Tennessee Supreme Court, clinic students perform case-related work, participate in classroom seminars and case supervision sessions, and complete reading assignments, writing assignments, oral presentations, simulations, and exercises designed to encourage the development of lawyering skills at both practical and theoretical levels.
Students may also earn credit and hands-on training through enrollment in an externship program that combines supervised field placements in judicial, governmental, and nonprofit legal settings with a weekly, faculty-led classroom seminar designed to explore issues of professionalism, ethics, and experiential learning. Current externship placements include federal and state courts; US Attorney's Office; Office of the Federal Public Defender; Tennessee Office of the Post-Conviction Defender; Shelby County District Attorney General's Office; Shelby County Public Defender's Office; US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC); National Labor Relations Board (NLRB); City of Memphis Law Division; Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority; health law externships; Memphis Area Legal Services, Inc.; and the Community Legal Center.
The School of Law and the Fogelman College of Business and Economics offer a coordinated-degree program leading to both the JD and MBA degrees. The purpose of this program is to allow students to study business management and law. This joint degree enables students to complete the JD and MBA in considerably less time than would be required to complete each degree separately.
The School of Law and the Department of Political Science offer a dual degree leading to both the JD and MA degrees. Credit toward degrees in these disciplines can be earned simultaneously if admission and curricula are carefully structured. Students can complete both degrees in less time than would normally be required to complete each degree separately.
The University of Memphis law library serves students, faculty, the legal community, and the public with reference services and access to its collection of print and electronic resources. The law library occupies five levels of the historic School of Law building and offers students many options for study—from study rooms to a three-sided glass reading room overlooking the Mississippi River. Students have access to computers in labs and open study areas. There is wireless access throughout the building.
The University of Memphis Law Review is a scholarly journal edited and staffed entirely by students. Law review members have numerous opportunities to improve their legal research, writing, and editing skills. The Mental Health Law and Policy Journal provides a scholarly publication dedicated to mental health law and policy issues.
The Moot Court Board is composed of 20 third-year students who are dedicated to the development of advocacy skills. In addition to intraschool competitions, the law school fields teams in national moot court, mock trial, and alternative dispute resolution competitions. The University of Memphis teams have earned national recognition for their performances in major national moot court and mock trial competitions. In 2011, a Memphis team won the Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Competition while other teams reached the final round of major moot court competitions.
The Student Bar Association coordinates a wide variety of activities, ranging from social events to a speaker series. There are 15 active student organizations, ranging from legal fraternities to special interest and service organizations.
Applicants initially are evaluated by the Admissions Office based on a weighted combination of LSAT score and cumulative undergraduate GPA as calculated by the Law School Admission Council. Those not admitted, or denied, as a result of this evaluation will be reviewed by the Faculty Admission Committee using nonquantifiable factors such as quality of the applicant's undergraduate institution, level and rigor of coursework, letters of recommendation or evaluations, graduate work, employment during and after college, extracurricular activities, educational diversity, and state of residence. In an attempt to attract a diverse student population, the school has developed a selection process that reviews the merits of all qualified applicants but assures that admission is based on a comprehensive range of criteria demonstrated to be predictive of success in law school.
The Career Service Office provides information about employment opportunities and career exploration, with seminars on job-search skills and roundtable discussions with practitioners. Students and graduates have access to our data management program, Symplicity, which houses job postings, resource materials, and the like. In addition to hosting a large number of firms, corporations, and public interest/governmental employers for on-campus interviewing and seminars, the School of Law is a member of several organizations that conduct annual recruiting conferences.
Employment for Memphis law graduates has remained consistently high during the last decade. Of those known graduates seeking legal employment in the graduating class of 2011, 88.8 percent were employed within nine months of graduation, as reported to NALP. The University of Memphis has graduates practicing in all 50 states and in several foreign countries.
Applicants from Tennessee as well as applicants from Crittenden County, Arkansas, and applicants from De Soto, Marshall, Tate, and Tunica counties in Mississippi are eligible to apply for the Tennessee Institute for Pre-Law (TIP) program, which facilitates law school admission for students from diverse backgrounds who do not meet traditional academic standards for admission. Participants who successfully complete the program are guaranteed admission to the law school. The TIP program is available to applicants who will have met the requirements for a bachelor's degree prior to the start of the program. The TIP program is a five-week program of classroom instruction that simulates the first-year law school curriculum.
This grid includes only applicants who earned 120–180 LSAT scores under standard administrations.
| GPA | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LSAT Score |
3.75+ Apps |
3.75+ Adm |
3.50– 3.74 Apps |
3.50– 3.74 Adm |
3.25– 3.49 Apps |
3.25– 3.49 Adm |
3.00– 3.24 Apps |
3.00– 3.24 Adm |
2.75– 2.99 Apps |
2.75– 2.99 Adm |
2.50– 2.74 Apps |
2.50– 2.74 Adm |
2.25– 2.49 Apps |
2.25– 2.49 Adm |
2.00– 2.24 Apps |
2.00– 2.24 Adm |
Below 2.00 Apps |
Below 2.00 Adm |
No GPA Apps |
No GPA Adm |
Total Apps |
Total Adm |
| LSAT score 175–180 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| LSAT score 170–174 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
| LSAT score 165–169 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 18 |
| LSAT score 160–164 | 18 | 15 | 11 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 15 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75 | 60 |
| LSAT score 155–159 | 26 | 25 | 39 | 31 | 39 | 27 | 44 | 35 | 21 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 188 | 136 |
| LSAT score 150–154 | 24 | 16 | 54 | 19 | 47 | 20 | 42 | 13 | 43 | 3 | 21 | 1 | 13 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 253 | 75 |
| LSAT score 145–149 | 12 | 2 | 29 | 1 | 30 | 2 | 29 | 2 | 25 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 154 | 10 |
| LSAT score 140–144 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 17 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 98 | 2 |
| LSAT score 135–139 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 48 | 1 |
| LSAT score 130–134 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 21 | 0 |
| LSAT score 125–129 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| LSAT score 120–124 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 91 | 62 | 156 | 69 | 150 | 60 | 164 | 66 | 124 | 31 | 72 | 7 | 59 | 4 | 26 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 864 | 305 |
Apps = Number of Applicants
Adm = Number Admitted
Reflects 99% of the total applicant pool; highest LSAT data reported.